Topp rules out NDP leadership bid, Cullen undecided

Brian Topp, who finished second to Tom Mulcair in the 2012 NDP leadership race, has ruled out running to replace him.

In a short post on his Facebook page, Topp — who currently serves as NDP Premier Rachel Notley’s chief of staff — made what he called “three quick notes”. They addressed Mulcair, Topp’s possible candidacy, and the difficulties of being a national party.

“First, the first five minutes of Tom Mulcair’s speech to convention Sunday was among the most riveting and compelling I’ve ever seen in politics,” Topp began his post with what sounded like a backhanded compliment.

“All political careers end in tears (my own, very brief public one ended on the floor of the 2012 convention — So I have a bit of the flavour of what that feels like). But Thomas Mulcair ends his run as our federal leader with his head held high, having given it everything he had.”

When the two were vying for the leadership, Topp criticized Mulcair for trying to move the party to the centre, so they aren’t without history.

“What he is saying is that . . . the NDP needs, in effect, to adopt the agenda of our opponents. I think he’s both wrong and taking us down a road that will not lead to victory,” he told the Toronto Star in back February 2012. “I reject the idea that our party needs to set aside its principles and its values in order to win. That’s not true.”

On Monday, though, Topp was clear about his future intentions.

“I won’t be a candidate in the coming leadership race,” he wrote.

As was his boss, Rachel Notley, who told reporters in Edmonton she was happy in Alberta.

Nathan Cullen, who finished third in the 2012 leadership race, told CBC Monday that he hasn’t made up his mind.

“It is a 15 – 20 year commitment, I should probably not make a decision like that in 24 hours,” he said.

Peter Julian, a fluently bilingual B.C. MP whose name has also been bandied as a possible leadership candidate, echoed Cullen.

“I’m not even thinking about it,” he told reporters when asked about his intentions after question period.

“I think that journalists — I understand your — your occupation is to turn the page and move on to other things. For regular folks like me…it was an emotional convention. It takes a few days to kind of let the dust settle.”